Family
by justanoutlaw
Summary: "I've missed this." (Drizella/Alice)
1. Chapter 1

_Anonymous prompted: Oh 19 please. No problem with angst here._

The curse had separated almost every family unit it could. From Alice and Killian, to Regina and Henry, along with Henry and his own daughter, Lucy. Drizella seemed to be the only one "fortunate" enough to stay with her mother. Little did she know, she had been separated from her own child.

She had known Marcus under the curse, he was a classmate of Lucy's. Something about him seemed familiar, which she couldn't understand. He had brown hair and blue eyes, there were lots of kids that looked like him. Yet, every time Mother dragged her to something for Lucy, she found herself lingering nearby.

Then the curse broke and she watched as Alice was reunited with her son…Marcus. It didn't seem possible at first, how could two women create a child? As far as she knew, Alice had never been with a man…

Regina explained that true love could work in mysterious ways.

And such had lead to him.

Confronting Alice, she learned the truth. He was her child, their child. She hadn't been sure how it was possible either, yet Ella had helped her. Alice hadn't been sure if Drizella could handle parenthood, so she had kept it a secret. The closest thing she had done was naming the baby after Drizella's father, a person the girls had all been close to.

It took time, but little by little, Drizella was building a connection with this little boy. He was quick on his feet, smart and an overall wild child. Drizella watched him with all the love in the world as he ran around the playground, Alice grinning at her.

That night, she tucked a sleeping Marcus into bed, kissing his forehead. Letting out a sigh, she turned to face Alice who was in the doorway, proudly examining the work Drizella put into putting his room together. Drizella lead her into the kitchen, starting to make some tea.

"You're doing great with him," Alice said, softly. "He's so happy to be here."

"I feel like I don't know what I'm doing," Drizella admitted. "I've missed this, all of it."

"You have to understand…"

"I do, I really do." She set the tea cups on the table and sat beside her. "There's just so much time to make up for."

"You will, in time. I trust you, I wouldn't be letting him spend the night here if I didn't."

Drizella paused. "You stay too."

"Driz…"

"Please, Al. I'll take the couch, I just…I want us to be a family again."

Alice softly smiled, clearly not needing much arm twisting. "That couch looks so uncomfortable." She shrugged. "We've shared a bed before…I think we can manage to do it again."


	2. Chapter 2

_Anonymous prompted: 47. "Why are you whispering?" (RainyRook)_

Drizella leaned back on her bed, the quiet being too much for her to bear. It seemed to always happen after her weekends with Marcus. Most of the time, Alice would stay, so they could be a real family.

Then Sunday evening would come and they'd be gone again.

She knew it was how things had to be. They were working on their relationship, one step at a time. Rumple had been the one to suggest marriage counseling, saying it had done wonders for him and his wife during his own shot at redemption. They were getting along great, letting out their frustrations and fears in counseling, kissing and hugging when they were together.

Drizella knew she was lucky to be given a second chance at all. She just wished she could speed up time.

Letting out a tiny sigh, she pulled out her phone and pressed the first speed dial. A moment later, she could hear Alice's soft voice coming through.

"Driz?"

"Hey," Drizella giggled a bit. "Why are you whispering?"

"The only way Papa could get Marcus to go to sleep was to tell him that I was too."

"Lying to our kid, nice."

"It's not a lie, it's just a small fib."

"Uh huh."

Alice paused for a minute. "Not that I don't love talking to you, but is there a reason for this call?"

"I just… I miss you guys already."

"Do you want to come with us to the park tomorrow?"

"Yeah. But Al…" She sighed. "Why don't you two just move in here?"

There was a beat of silence and for a moment, Drizella worried that she had stepped too far. "Drizella…I love you, you know I do."

"You just don't trust me."

"I do," Alice insisted. "I just have to be careful. I don't want to move too fast. What if things don't work out? Marcus is already so confused, he knows his mommies sleep in the same bed when we sleepover there."

"We've had to wait so long to be a family. I just don't want to spend any longer apart."

Another beat of silence. "You're really all in, aren't you?"

"All in. You and Marcus are the two most important people in my lives."

"Let's discuss it with the doctor at our session this week, see if he has any tips for transitioning Marcus."

"Sounds like a plan."

"I love you, you know that?"

Drizella smiled. "I love you too."


	3. Chapter 3

_Prompted by anonymous on Tumblr. ("it's okay to hurt & breakdown. you don't have to be strong all the time.")_

Alice had seldom wanted to kill in her life, but never more than in that moment.

Tremaine had gone too far that time, way too far. It was one thing to mess with her or Drizella, but Marcus? Now it was war.

The little boy had been climbing at the monkey bars at the park and with some magic, he had been tossed off them. He was rushed to the hospital, diagnosed with a concussion and a broken arm. Alice and Drizella stood vigilantly by his bedside, counting down the minutes. They were told to wake him up every two hours and wanted to do it to the second.

"I am going to kill her," Alice grumbled. "No, death is too good from her. I am going to torture her, use my father's hook…"

"She's locked away, Al," Drizella assured her, putting a hand on her back. "I want to kill her just as much as you do, but Marcus needs us more."

Alice shook her head, tears building up in her eyes. "He could've died."

"He didn't."

"How are you so calm?!"

Alice ripped away from her wife, storming over to the corner. Drizella frowned, following her and watching as Alice tried to keep it all in. She was clearly willing herself not to cry. There wasn't a lot that the two had in common, but one thing was bottling things up until they exploded.

"It's okay to hurt and breakdown, you don't have to be strong all the time," Drizella whispered, stroking her cheek. "You can cry."

A single tear fell down Alice's cheek. "When he was a baby, he got really sick. I didn't know what was wrong, Rumple managed to find a potion and he got better. I swore after that moment I wouldn't let a bad thing happen to him. Look at where he is now."

"This wasn't your fault, this wasn't anyone's fault." Drizella squeezed her hand. "My mother is an evil woman, she doesn't care who she hurts in her wake. This wasn't something you could've prevented. And in the end, look at him, he's fine."

Alice sniffled, looking over at her sleeping son. "He almost wasn't."

"Well, he is. He'll get through this, he's tough." She touched her chin. "Just like his mama."

Alice let out a deep breath, leaning into her girlfriend. Drizella wrapped her arms around her, letting her have the breakdown she clearly needed. A few moments later, they could hear a tiny voice.

"Mommy? Mama?"

Their heads whipped around and found Marcus' hazel eyes flickered open. They raced over to him, pushing his dark locks out of his face.

"Hey sweetheart," Alice whispered. "How are you feeling?"

"Everything hurts," he said. "Can I go home?"

"Soon, I promise."

"Your grandfather called, he's set up all your things in our room," Drizella told him. "We'll have a big sleepover."

Marcus sleepily smiled at the thought of that, his eyes drifting shut once again.


End file.
